Anger as Assembly rejects all nominees

By Daniel Psirmoi

Bungoma, Kenya: The Bungoma County Assembly has rejected all the six nominees to the county service board, causing uproar from leaders.

Some ward representatives are now accusing the County Assembly of shooting down the list to sabotage Governor Kenneth Lusaka and operations in the county.

Leaders from Mt Elgon constituency expressed outrage and dissatisfaction with the rejection after word filtered out that majority of the county ward representatives were not comfortable with having Gideon Sirai, from the minority Sabaot community, who until his nomination was a DC, as the chairman of the county service board.

Other board members include Prof Nandi Ogondo, Elizabeth Wanyonyi, Peter Khakina, Janet Nangila and Peter Sikolia.

Speaking to The Standard, five ward representatives from Mt Elgon led by Jane Chebet, the Bungoma County Deputy Speaker, who is also the Cheptais ward representative, said they see malice in the rejection of the list.

They said the candidates were subjected to vigorous vetting two weeks ago and they were all given a clean bill of health.

“If there is anybody who should be complaining that there was no regional balance in the line-up it should be the Sabaots who are a minority in the county. The proposed chairman is a Sabaot, while the other five members hail from the Bukusu community, which also produced nine out of 10 County Cabinet ministers,” said Chebet.

Ben Kipkut, Chesikaki ward representative said his colleagues send a strong message that the issue of discrimination based on ethnicity and numbers that has bedeviled his community is far from over.

Simiyu Mutaki, a youth leader from Kabuchai Constituency faulted the assembly for conspiring to bring the activities in the county to a halt.

The rejection of the nominees now puts Lusaka in a tight spot, as a section of the Assembly said members of the Sabaot community lobbied to be given the post of the chairman after they missed out on a second slot in the Cabinet.

Shocking and sad

Some ward representatives accuse the governor of giving members of the Sabaot community preferential treatment when it comes to appointments in the county.

“They were given a deputy governor post, deputy speaker and now want the chairman of the public service board when the minister of public service hails from the same community. All with the governors’ blessings? No way, that would not happen,” said a member of the Assembly, who requested anonymity.

He disclosed the other five nominees were just victims of circumstances.

When reached for comment, Lusaka who is at a governors’ meeting in Nairobi, described the rejection as ‘shocking and sad’.

Lusaka said he had factored in all considerations including gender and regional balance before coming up with the list, which was approved by the county vetting panel.